Dearest,
I’ve dedicated much to you:
loyalty,
honesty,
and love above all,
but those are just words aren’t they?
Babbles of a love-struck fool
who cannot speak
without stumbling
smile without laughter.

I tell you
you’re still a princess
full of luscious locks–
silver–
but as beautiful as precious
as a spring bud,
as ripe as sweet
as when we first spoke,

and I am as in love
with this well-worn face–
if not more–
than all youth combined.